Reflection on Learning

Conducting this thesis project had allowed the author to acquire the primary background of the global marine logistics industry, the document flow of marine shipping, particularly the Bill of Lading and process management. In addition, the basic knowledge of

blockchain technology which is out of specialization program was obtained while the author was studying its characteristics and benefits. Even though the thesis topic was not so closely referred to the writer's specialization study, the knowledge of international

business, customer service and process management were key achievements that would be beneficial to her future educational and professional development. Especially, today technology and data management play important roles in international business and digital management.

Moreover, included in the thesis is the learning of the supplier selection process which supports implementing the project task. Analyzing the needs of properly selecting

supplier, setting suitable criteria table and selection process were related to sourcing and supplier management theories. These are important parts downstream of supply chain management that is the author's major. Through writing this thesis, the author also had a chance to revise and flexibly apply her knowledge to the practical case.

Meanwhile gaining both business and technology knowledge, the writer also faced up some obstacles during thesis implementation. The first one was the blockchain study.

Since technology is a new field for the author, it had taken time to look for reliable academic resources and understand many technology professional explanations for simple sufficient recap in the thesis. The other challenge was getting the true experience with the blockchain-based platform. There was the ability to send a demo request to each platform provider. However, since it would consume many resources of them, the platform demo was only supplied to potential users rather than for thesis purpose. Fortunately, the Head of Marketing of commissioning company headquarter had put the author into contact with a shipping company who had experienced the blockchain-based platform for an online meeting. And then, one of the platform providers who was also the suggested solution of the thesis had offered a meeting to explain their solution. Lastly, due to sudden urgent pandemic, it was difficult to communicate via emails and set up online meetings with company representatives since everyone needed to work from home.

In general, working on a cross-functional thesis was admittedly challenge, but an amazing chance for the thesis writer to revise own learnings and expand her knowledge as well as limitation. Moreover, different skills were developed by conducting this thesis project such as qualitative data analysis, building process and project management. Having had an opportunity to get a blockchain professional to explain its concept would help the writer understand the incredible capability of technology tools in many perspectives. It could be supply chain, finance, marketing or even human resources. The other remarkable value of this thesis was the understanding of the connection between supply chain and logistics, as well as the importance of building process. Finally, the thesis project was a solid experience in dealing with a business problem. This would provide the author with

References

Aikens, R., Lord, R. & Bools, M. 2016. Bill of Lading. 2nd ed. Informa Law from Routledge.

Abingdon.

Antonakaki, A. 9 April 2020. Sales & Marketing Coordinator. essDOCS. E-mail.

CargoX 2020. Interview: Vjeran Ortynski, Cargo X. URL: https://cargox.io/smartbl-intelligence/interview-vjeran-ortynski-cargox/. Accessed: 20 March 2020.

CargoX 2018. Reshaping the Future of Global Trade with World’s First Blockchain-based Bill of Lading. URL: https://cargox.io/static/files/CargoX-Business-Overview-Technology-Bluepaper.pdf. Accessed: 27 April 2020.

Cebi, F. & Bayraktar, D. 2003. An Integration Approach for Supplier Selection. Logitsics Information Management, 16, 6, pp. 395-400.

Chen, J. April 2020. Return on Investment (ROI). URL:

https://www.investopedia.com/terms/r/returnoninvestment.asp. Accessed: 10 May 2020.

Cottrill, K. & Harris, P. 2017. Blockchain meets Supply Chain: Rewiring Business Operations for the Digital Age. Chain Business Insights. Austin.

DDI Development January 2018. How to Create a Blockchain Application. URL:

https://ddi-dev.com/blog/programming/how-develop-blockchain-application/. Accessed: 25 April 2020.

Denzin, N. & Lincoln, Y. 2005. The SAGE Handbook of Qualitative Research. 3rd ed. Sage Publications, Inc. Thousand Oaks, California.

Dickson, G. 1966. An Analysis of Vendor Selection: System and decisions. Journal of purchasing, 16, 2, pp. 5-17.

Ellram, L. M. 1990. The Supplier Selection Decision in Strategic Partnerships. Journal of Purchasing and Materials Management, 26, pp. 8-14.

Freitag, M., Kotzab, H. & Pannek, J. 2018. Dynamics in Logistics: Proceedings of the 6th

International Conference LDIC 2018, Bremen, Germany. Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature 2018. Cham.

G2 Ocean 2019. Blockchain to push paper Bill of Lading into retirement. URL:

https://www.g2ocean.com/blockchain-to-push-paper-bill-of-lading-into-retirement/.

Accessed: 15 April 2020.

Gaskell, N., Asariotis, R. & Baatz, Y. 2014. Bill of Lading: Law and Contracts. Informa Law from Routledge. Abingdon.

GEP. Blockchain in Procurement and Supply Chain. URL:

https://www.gep.com/blockchain-procurement-supply-chain. Accessed: 20 November 2019.

Global Share 2020. LDC successfully executes its first edoxOnline eBL in the Parana – Paraguay Waterway. URL: https://www.globalshare.com.ar/news/ldc-successfully-executes-its-first-edoxonline-ebl-in-the-parana-paraguay-waterway-2/. Accessed: 8 May 2020.

Grant, D. 2012. Logistics management. Pearson Education Limited. Harlow.

Haama Group April 2019. DSV has successfully completed a pilot-based digital bill of lading for Haama Company. URL: http://www.haama.com/news/. Accessed: 8 May 2020.

Harmon, R. & Steiner, F. August 2009. The Impact of Intangible Value on the Design Marketing of New Products and Services: An Exploratory Approach. PICMET. Portland, Oregon, USA.

Hellenic Shipping News 2019. Letters of Indemnity: Can you rely on someone’s

handshake? URL: https://www.hellenicshippingnews.com/letters-of-indemnity-can-you-rely-on-someones-handshake/. Accessed: 5 April 2020.

Hyperledger 2018. Case study: How Walmart brought unprecedented transparency to the food supply chain with Hyperledger Fabric. URL:

https://www.hyperledger.org/resources/publications/walmart-case-study. Accessed: 15 April 2020.

Kacmary, P. & Fedorko, G. 2014. Logistics Development. Trans Tech Publications Ltd.

Plaffikon.

Laurence, T. 2019. Blockchain for Dummies. 2nd ed. John Wiley & Sons, Inc.. Hoboken, New Jersey.

Maersk 2018. Maersk and IBM Introduce TradeLens Blockchain Shipping Solution.

Copenhagen, Denmark and Armonk. URL:

https://www.maersk.com/news/2018/06/29/maersk-and-ibm-introduce-TradeLens-blockchain-shipping-solution. Accessed: 28 November 2019.

Messenlehner, B. & Coleman, J. 2014. Building Web Apps with Wordpress. O’Reilly Media, Inc. Sebastopol.

Monczka, R., Handfield, R., Giunipero, L. & Pattersson, J. 2011. Purchasing and Supply Management. 5th ed. Cengage Learning, South – Western, USA.

Mougayar, W. & Buterin, V. 2016. The Business Blockchain. John Wiley & Sons, Inc..

Hoboken, New Jersey.

Murray, D. E. 1983. History and Development of the Bill of Lading. University of Miami Law Review, 37, 3, pp. 690 – 692.

Ocean Network Express 2020. ONE issues its first electronic BL and selects essDOCS to power its global BL digitalization initiative. Ocean Network Express. Singapore & Malta.

URL: https://www.one-line.com/en/news/one-issues-its-first-electronic-bl-and-selects-essdocs-power-its-global-bl-digitization. Accessed: 17 April 2020.

Provenance 2016. From shore to plate: Tracking tuna on the blockchain. URL:

https://www.provenance.org/tracking-tuna-on-the-blockchain#overview. Accessed: 15 April 2020.

SAL Heavy Lift GmbH. SAL Heavy Lift – Company portrait. URL: https://sal-heavylift.com/company/history. Accessed: 20 November 2019.

SAL Heavy Lift GmbH 2018. SAL Heavy Lift – Company Brochure. SAL Heavy Lift GmbH.

Hamburg. URL:

https://sal- heavylift.com/uploads/tx_salext/download/SAL_Company_Brochure_2018-07-30_web.pdf. Accessed: 18 November 2019.

Satoshi, N. 2009. Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System. Bitcoin Organization.

URL: https://bitcoin.org/bitcoin.pdf. Accessed: 13 April 2020.

Sharma, V. & Sharma, V. 2012. Web – Based and Traditional Outsourcing. Taylor &

Francis Group. Boca Raton, Florida.

Strommen, L. A. 24 March 2020. Vice President Innovation. G2 Ocean. Interview.

Helsinki.

Swan, M. January 2015. Blockchain. O’Reilly Media, Inc. Sebastopol.

The Maritime Executive February 2019. PIL and IBM Trial Delivery Using Blockchain Platform. URL: https://www.maritime-executive.com/article/pil-and-ibm-trial-delivery-using-ibm-blockchain-platform. Accessed: 8 May 2020.

Theodore, L. May 1981. Marketing Intangible Products and Products Intangibles. Harvard Business Review. URL:

https://hbr.org/1981/05/marketing-intangible-products-and-product-intangibles. Accessed: 5 May 2020.

TradeLens 2020. Market place / TradeLens Core – Connect directly to the TradeLens Ecosystem. URL: https://www.tradelens.com/marketplace/tradelens-core. Accessed: 23 April 2020.

Tricks, S. & Parson, R. 2018. The Legal Status of Electronic Bills of Lading. A report for the ICC Banking Commission. Clyde & Co LLP. London. URL:

https://iccwbo.org/content/uploads/sites/3/2018/10/the-legal-status-of-e-bills-of-lading-oct2018.pdf. Accessed: 28 March 2020.

Underhill, S. A. & Bibby, W. 2016. Electronic Bills of Lading. URL:

https://www.shiplawlog.com/2016/01/14/electronic-bills-of-lading/. Accessed: 10 April 2020.

Walliman, N. 2011. Research Methods: The Basics. Routledge. Abingdon.

Walmart Corporate 2020. About us. URL: https://corporate.walmart.com/our-story.

Accessed: 15 April 2020.

Yiannopoulos, A. N. 1995. Ocean Bill of Lading: Traditional Forms, Substitutes and EDI Systems. Kluwer Law International. The Hague.

Zycus. Blockchain Technology: The CPO Guide to Transformative Technology. Zycus.

URL: https://www.zycus.com/knowledge-hub/whitepapers/blockchain-technology-the-cpo-guide-to-transformative-technology.html. Accessed: 20 November 2019.

Appendices